Part of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – in the House of Commons at on 2 May 2023.
James Cleverly
Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
My hon. Friend makes an important point about the state of the runway. I do not pretend to be a military logistics expert, but my understanding is that the British military were doing repairs while they were using the runway to keep it serviceable. He is right that what is basically a military runway has taken an exceptionally high level of air traffic. My understanding—and I am willing to be corrected on this once we have an update later today—is that we have been able to hand back that airfield to the Sudanese armed forces in a usable state, having done repairs as the airfield has been used.